On 12 June, representatives of the “Armenian Lawyers Association” non-governmental organisation, members of the State and Legal Committee of the Public Council Mr. Artyom Mesropyan, and Lawyer/Expert of the ALA Ms Lusine Nalbandyan held a working meeting at the Central Electoral Commission. Ms Melanya Melkonyan, Head of the CEC Financial and Economic Department, was present at the meeting as well.
During the meeting the parties discussed the Medium Term Expenditure Framework for 2020-2022 and the Applications for Budget Financing for 2020 the CEC, as well as presented observation for making changes in the program activities. In particular, the lawyer/experts recommended ensuring the high level of citizens’ awareness of electoral process in the strategic directions of CEC. This can be achieved by increasing the volume of printing material and video clips for informational purposes. It was noted that the process of passing examination of the members of election commissions should be reviewed to make it more fair and transparent. Speaking about a number of practical issues related to determining the results of the CEC budgetary applications, lawyer/experts suggested that the positive assessments provided by the international observation missions on the elections in Armenia as well as the outcome indicators are included in those applications as well.
The experts of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association expressed their readiness to assist in incorporating all the necessary proposals in the budget application. It was decided that the experts would submit a package of proposals including the appropriate justifications that would be included in the budget proposal as appropriate.